The most popular names in Scotland, 1998

The tables below give the top 100 boys' and girls' names in 1998

The top 10 boys names have all changed position with the exception of the most popular name, Ryan which has remained number one since 1994. Jack and Ross both move up one place to hold second and third position. There were two new names in the top ten in 1998: Cameron up from 14thto 5th and Callum up from 20th to 10th. Two names dropped out of the top ten: David down from 9th to 13th and Michael down from 10th to 16th. Outside the top ten the greatest changes were Ethan (up 37 places from 122nd to 85th), and George (down 20 from 76th to 95th).

The most popular girl's in 1998 was Chloe (up from 3rd in 1997), Megan came second (up from 4th in 1997), and Rebecca third (down from 2nd in 1997).This year there were no new entries to the top ten. Katie (up 5 places from last year), Lucy and Courtney (both up 3 places from last year) showed the biggest rise of those in the top 20. Outside the top twenty the greatest changes were Isla (up 45 places from =115th to 70th) and Hayley (down 29 from 40th to 69th).

All births have, by law, to be registered, and the records sent in by local registrars to the Registrar General enable him to produce tables showing the most popular first forenames, not just for a section of the population or those announced in a particular newspaper, but for all the new babies registered in Scotland in 1998. But even the most popular names have quite a small 'market share'. Chloes and Ryans are only three per cent of the 27,700 girls and 29,400 boys born last year. Quite a lot of information is available about Scottish names. In 1990 the Registrar General published a small book entitled Personal Names in Scotland covering surnames as well as forenames and including comparisons going back to 1855. Since then the Registrar General's records have been augmented to include a computerised index to the Church of Scotland parish registers back to 1553. This enables customers to analyse the frequency of occurrence of Scottish forenames and surnames over four centuries.

Top 100 boys' and girls' names given in 1998 in Scotland, alphabetically listed

Position	Boys	Position	Girls
32	Aaron	48	Abbie
26	Adam	97	Abby
41=	Aidan	61=	Abigail
92=	Aiden	43=	Aimee
72=	Alan	95=	Alana
28	Alexander	60=	Alexandra
77=	Alistair	79	Alice
8	Andrew	92=	Alison
87=	Angus	58=	Amber
95=	Anthony	5	Amy
39	Ben	36	Anna
68=	Benjamin	74	Ashleigh
66	Blair	78	Ashley
80=	Bradley	55	Beth
52	Brandon	40=	Bethany
10	Callum	6	Caitlin
25	Calum	61=	Caitlyn
5	Cameron	57	Cara
89=	Charles	98=	Carla
97=	Charlie	80=	Carly
24	Christopher	61	Catherine
75	Ciaran	77	Catriona
7	Connor	84	Chantelle
48	Conor	45	Charlotte
18	Craig	33	Chelsea
12	Daniel	1	Chloe
50	Darren	85=	Ciara
13	David	40=	Claire
54=	Dean	15	Courtney
37	Declan	32	Danielle
87=	Duncan	85	Demi
22	Dylan	22	Eilidh
85=	Ethan	75=	Elizabeth
33	Euan	82	Ellen
36	Ewan	58	Ellie
80=	Finlay	19	Emily
34	Fraser	4	Emma
69	Gary	14	Erin
71	Gavin	75=	Eve
96	George	65	Fiona
62=	Grant	46	Gemma
61	Greg	51=	Georgia
82=	Gregor	10	Hannah
100	Hamish	69	Hayley
77	Harry	28	Heather
73	Iain	98=	Hollie
92=	Ian	23	Holly
2	Jack	53=	Iona
97	Jacob	70	Isla
58	Jake	29	Jade
6	James	67=	Jenna
21	Jamie	24	Jennifer
64	Jason	33	Jessica
76	Jay	56	Jodie
23	John	89	Jordan
54=	Jonathan	80=	Kaitlin
11	Jordan	100=	Kaitlyn
54=	Joseph	83	Katherine
59	Josh	100=	Kathryn
46	Joshua	17	Katie
73=	Kevin	40=	Kayleigh
17	Kieran	66	Kelsey
19	Kyle	87=	Kerry
47	Lee	71=	Kimberley
4	Lewis	67=	Kirsten
15	Liam	18	Kirsty
57	Luke	20	Laura
53	Marc	8	Lauren
29	Mark	73	Leah
67	Martin	39	Lisa
14	Matthew	21	Louise
99	Max	16	Lucy
16	Michael	2	Megan
77=	Murray	94	Meghan
30	Nathan	49	Melissa
94	Neil	92=	Mhairi
85=	Nicholas	61=	Molly
62=	Owen	25=	Morgan
35	Paul	31	Natalie
69=	Peter	38	Natasha
44	Reece	47	Niamh
72	Rhys	43=	Nicola
45	Robbie	12	Nicole
31	Robert	53=	Olivia
91	Ronan	72	Paige
60	Rory	27	Rachael
3	Ross	7	Rachel
1	Ryan	3	Rebecca
65	Sam	87=	Rebekah
51	Samuel	90=	Rhiannon
9	Scott	35	Robyn
20	Sean	25=	Samantha
49	Shaun	13	Sarah
41=	Stephen	9	Shannon
43	Steven	95=	Siobhan
89=	Stewart	11	Sophie
40	Stuart	34	Stephanie
82=	Taylor	51=	Taylor
27	Thomas	90	Toni
38	William	50	Victoria
		37	Zoe

 

Top 100 boys' names given in 1998 in Scotland, with changes in popularity since 1997

Boys

	1998		1997-1998	1997
Name	Count	Rank	change	Count	Rank
Ryan	789	1	No change	793	1
Jack	703	2	+1	758	3
Ross	660	3	+1	700	4
Lewis	635	4	+4	566	8
Cameron	615	5	+9	524	14
James	614	6	-1	636	5
Connor	588	7	-1	588	6
Andrew	580	8	-6	759	2
Scott	545	9	-2	583	7
Callum	522	10	+10	419	20
Jordan	514	11	No change	552	11
Daniel	489	12	+1	544	13
David	482	13	-4	560	9
Matthew	480	14	+1	508	15
Liam	469	15	-3	549	12
Michael	465	16	-6	556	10
Kieran	455	17	-1	469	16
Craig	399	18	+3	417	21
Kyle	394	19	No change	421	19
Sean	378	20	+4	363	24
Jamie	376	21	-4	451	17
Dylan	359	22	+1	394	23
John	353	23	-1	395	22
Christopher	345	24	-6	438	18
Calum	336	25	+2	335	27
Adam	331	26	No change	347	26
Thomas	308	27	-2	348	25
Alexander	301	28	+3	286	31
Mark	281	29	-1	310	28
Nathan	279	30	+13	205	43
Robert	271	31	-2	297	29
Aaron	267	32	+2	258	34
Euan	260	33	+3	251	36
Fraser	243	34	-4	291	30
Paul	236	35	-2	266	33
Ewan	235	36	+12	173	48
Declan	224	37	-5	283	32
William	216	38	+1	228	39
Ben	210	39	+6	195	45
Stuart	206	40	-5	257	35
Aidan	193	41=	No change	207	41
Stephen	193	41=	+1	206	42
Steven	189	43	-6	243	37
Reece	187	44	+5	167	49
Robbie	179	45	+10	143	55
Joshua	178	46	No change	191	46
Lee	177	47	-7	226	40
Conor	167	48	-1	176	47
Shaun	162	49	-5	198	44
Darren	159	50	-12	231	38
Samuel	154	51	-1	159	50
Brandon	142	52	+1	149	53
Marc	139	53	+3	142	56
Dean	138	54=	No change	148	54
Jonathan	138	54=	-3	158	51
Joseph	138	54=	-2	155	52
Luke	135	57	No change	139	57
Jake	129	58	+14	102	72=
Josh	128	59	+9	109	68
Rory	127	60	-2	138	58
Greg	126	61	-1	133	60=
Grant	125	62=	-2	133	60=
Owen	125	62=	+17	82	79
Jason	124	64	+1	128	65
Sam	113	65	-5	133	60=
Blair	110	66	-3	131	63
Martin	105	67	-1	117	66
Benjamin	104	68	+2	103	70=
Gary	101	69=	-5	130	64
Peter	101	69=	-10	134	59
Gavin	94	71	-2	106	69
Rhys	93	72	+2	97	74
Kevin	89	73=	-3	103	70=
Iain	89	73=	-6	115	67
Ciaran	88	75	+12	72	87=
Jay	86	76	+15	70	91
Alistair	85	77=	+3	81	80
Harry	85	77=	-2	94	75
Murray	85	77=	+18	60	95=
Bradley	84	80=	+2	77	82=
Finlay	84	80=	+21	55	101
Alan	82	82=	-6	86	76=
Gregor	82	82=	-10	102	72=
Taylor	82	82=	+8	71	90%
Ethan	80	85=	+37	42	122=
Nicholas	80	85=	-9	86	76=
Angus	77	87=	-6	79	81
Duncan	77	87=	-5	77	82=
Charles	76	89=	+6	60	95=
Stewart	76	89=	-4	75	85=
Ronan	72	91	+23	47	114=
Ian	69	92=	No change	69	92=
Aiden	69	92=	+24	45	116=
Neil	68	94	-7	72	87=
Anthony	12%	95=	-10	75	85=
George	66	95=	-20	86	76=
Charlie	62	97=	+29	40	126
Jacob	62	97=	+21	44	118=
Max	61	99	+6	52	105=
Hamish	60	100	+2	54	102=

 

  

Top 100 girls' names given in 1998 in Scotland, with changes in popularity since 1997

Girls

 

	1998		1997-1998	1997
Name	Count	Rank	change	Count	Rank
Chloe	950	1	+2	700	3
Megan	675	2	+2	641	4
Rebecca	628	3	-1	711	2
Emma	599	4	-3	752	1
Amy	584	5	+1	623	6
Caitlin	577	6	+2	545	8
Rachel	541	7	+2	518	9
Lauren	538	8	-3	630	5
Shannon	442	9	-2	551	7
Hannah	423	10	No change	480	10
Sophie	398	11	+1	430	12
Nicole	376	12	+1	377	13
Sarah	371	13	-2	470	11
Erin	359	14	No change	362	14
Courtney	315	15	+3	275	18
Lucy	302	16	+3	258	19
Katie	276	17	+5	252	22=
Kirsty	273	18	+2	257	20
Emily	270	19	-3	290	16
Laura	252	20	-5	347	15
Louise	246	21	+1	252	22=
Eilidh	242	22	+4	214	26
Holly	216	23	+4	211	27
Jennifer	207	24	-7	277	17
Morgan	196	25=	+27	110	52=
Samantha	196	25=	+3	208	28
Rachael	191	27	-2	221	25
Heather	190	28	-4	250	24
Jade	182	29	+5	176	34
Chelsea	181	30	+3	179	33
Natalie	176	31	+10	154	41=
Danielle	174	32	-11	256	21
Jessica	168	33	+4	160	37
Stephanie	167	34	-5	202	29
Robyn	163	35	No change	173	35
Anna	162	36	+7	151	43
Zoe	157	37	-1	162	36
Natasha	152	38	+6	147	44
Lisa	150	39	+2	154	41=
Bethany	147	40=	+8	128	48=
Claire	147	40=	-8	182	32
Kayleigh	147	40=	-10	193	30
Aimee	142	43=	+2	144	45
Nicola	142	43=	-5	159	38=
Charlotte	137	45	+1	134	46
Gemma	134	46	-8	159	38=
Niamh	132	47	+17	91	64
Abbie	127	48	-1	132	47
Melissa	123	49	-18	189	31
Victoria	121	50	-2	128	48=
Georgia	120	51=	+1	110	52=
Taylor	120	51=	+3	108	54
Iona	119	53=	+15	87	68=
Olivia	119	53=	+10	93	63
Beth	118	55	-5	124	50
Jodie	116	56	-5	113	51
Cara	105	57	+2	97	59
Amber	101	58=	+15	78	73
Ellie	101	58=	No change	100	58
	100	60	+17	75	77=
Abigail	95	61=	+4	90	65
Caitlyn	95	61=	+25	64	86=
Catherine	95	61=	+6	88	67
Molly	95	61=	+5	89	66
Fiona	94	65	-8	101	57
Kelsey	92	66	+4	83	70
Jenna	90	67=	-12	106	55
Kirsten	90	67=	-11	104	56
Hayley	87	69	-29	156	40
Isla	81	70	+45	43	115=
Kimberley	78	71=	-3	87	68=
Paige	78	71=	+4	76	76
Leah	77	73	+1	77	74=
Ashleigh	76	74	-14	96	60
Elizabeth	73	75=	-14	95	61=
Eve	73	75=	+25	54	100
Catriona	71	77	+6	66	83=
Ashley	65	78	-17	95	61=
Alice	64	79	+1	69	80
Carly	63	80=	+3	66	83=